Nisha woke up and heard the crunching outside her tent. She walked outside. Bok paced back and forth in endless repetition. She had not seen this behavior in the Omanji before now.
“Bok, you are worried about something. Are you okay?”
“Yes, I’m worried about Beedee. I got a reply from her, written on paper. Her parents are forcing her to merge and get the implant. I’m losing her. I’ll accept this fate. It’s our way.”
“Bok, are you serious? You’re giving up that easily?” Nisha said.
“Yes, I must give up. We’ve been trained to accept the will of our elders because that’s how society stays together and avoids war and destruction. I must accept this fate. I can refuse to merge, but I can’t tell others to not merge.”
“Does she want to merge?”
“No. Her reply reads that she doesn’t want to merge, but her parents are commanding her to merge.”
“This makes no sense. You can refuse to merge but she can’t?” Nisha said.
“She can refuse. If she wants to disobey her elders, it must be her own decision. I’m not allowed to encourage her to disobey.”
“Bok, do you wish to be with her?” Nisha said.
“Yes.”
“Then go get her,” Nisha said. “What are you doing standing here? She might be about to undergo the procedure and you’ll lose her forever. Go.”
Bok stared at the ground for a long moment. Without a word, he ran over to his racer, hopped in, and accelerated away.
Nisha smiled.
“Go get her Bok.”
“I’m impressed,” Rachel said. “I thought his logical mind wouldn’t permit this behavior. There’s hope for those young Omanji.”
They walked up to the mess tent to eat breakfast.
“There’s hope for our species too. What’s happening in the world today?” Nisha said.
Rachel blinked into her eyepiece to check her news sources. Well let’s see. There’s a new office/condo tower going up in San Francisco that’s designed like an Omanji tower. It’ll be one of the tallest in the city at 1,900 feet tall despite the earthquakes. Other big towers are being planned in big cities to be like the Omanji towers.”
Nisha gazed at the colony.
“I wondered when that would happen. I love the Omanji tower designs. Every one of them is unique, and they all share a similar theme. I can’t explain it. What else is happening?”
“How about this? Here’s a bio-analysis report showing the Omanji are efficient. Obviously. Even though eight billion of them are living on Earth, they’ve had a negligible effect on the earth’s ecosystem. Carbon dioxide levels haven’t gone up more than they would have without them being here. they’re not polluting or using valuable farmland or water. They take their water from the ocean and produce their own food directly without needing plants or animals. They’ve displaced only 0.0001% of the human population of the earth. Outside of this mega colony, they’re barely invisible from a planetary biologic standpoint.”
“I gotta give ’em credit for having a light footprint on the earth,” Nisha said. “But they exert a heavy psychological footprint on the humans. What else is going on?”
Rachel continued browsing the news.
“Hmm. 10,000 Omanji spheres are in orbit.”
“Yeah, that seems right. At night, the sky looks like it’s alive with fireflies because they’re in intersecting orbits from our perspective. They appear like they’re randomly floating around up there. Especially right after sunset when the sky is dark on the ground, but the sun still reflects off of them high above. They’re noctilucent.”
Rachel continued her morning news reading.
“Here’s the amazing thing. Not a single human satellite already in orbit when they arrived has been struck, even though the spheres are in orbits intersecting those of the satellites.”
“How can they do that?” Nisha said. “It seems impossible, but I guess if you have access to enough computing power, the orbits of every single object can be calculated and predicted.”
“Speaking of predicting,” Rachel said. “Here’s a story about how the airlines avoid collisions with the Omanji. They’re starting to tour the earth in their speeders and other aircraft. At first, the airlines tried to avoid the Omanji. An airline pilot is trained to watch out for other aircraft and avoid them if possible. There were so many Omanji craft in the air, that the air traffic controllers became confused. They had to either stop all air flights or trust that the Omanji can avoid hitting airplanes. They decided to trust. No midair collisions have been reported.”
“They’re touring the earth?” Nisha said.
“Yes, they like places with vertical interest, like Yosemite, the Himalaya, and the redwood forests. People are getting used to seeing them, but they still startle people when they show up unexpectedly. They visited Disneyland and went on the rides. They cut in line.”
Nisha smiled.
“I guess they don’t pay admission fees either.”
Rachel laughed.
“Yeah, who’s gonna kick them out?”
“Not me. I’d say— Oh, here comes Bok.”
Bok’s speeder pulled up in front of his tent.
“Rachel, Bok has a passenger.”
“Yeah, let’s go find out.”
They walked over to the speeder as Bok and another young Omanji climbed out.
“Is this Beedee?” Nisha said.
“Yes, this is Beedee. Beedee this is Nisha and Rachel. These humans help me. They told me to rescue you.”
Beedee was slightly smaller than Bok. She was glowing in a pleasant light shade of blue. Her smaller nose wiggled like his but even more like Yoova’s. Her tail was an inch or two longer than his, indicating she was slightly younger.
“We’re happy to meet you Beedee,” Nisha said.
Beedee held a device in her hand like Bok’s.
“I’m happy to meet you too,” she said in the female sounding translated voice. “I want to learn about humans. Bok has told me humans are smarter and more complex than we’ve been taught by our elders. I’m surprised you can communicate intelligently.”
“Sometimes we’re intelligent and sometimes not,” Rachel said. “We’re learning as we go. Are you refusing to merge with the telepathic collective?”
“Yes, I want to start a new life. So do many of my friends. The old ways were fine back on Oma, but I was hatched in space on the way to Earth. My friends and I understand how humans are individuals with free and independent minds. We comprehend the problems though. Therefore, we’re hoping to create a colony where we can be connected and be independent thinkers too.”
“What do your parents think about your beliefs?” Nisha said.
“They disagree with me. They think I’m making a big mistake and the new colony will end in disaster. They keep telling me when all minds are connected, there’s peace. They say a disconnected mind is an undisciplined mind. And when a mind is undisciplined, it can become destructive. If enough undisciplined minds interact, they can lead to destruction. This has happened on Oma many times in the past.”
Nisha raised an eyebrow. Beedee continued talking.
“I know what you’re thinking, even though you and I are not connected. You’re worried our parents might be right. I disagree. The past is the past and we’ve learned from it. We won’t make the same mistakes.”
“I’m glad you’re aware and you’ll be careful,” Rachel said. “We’re nervous because tremendous energy is at your disposal. Unexpected things could happen.”
“Yes, we’ll be careful,” Beedee said. “We’re going to go inspect the new colony right now. Would you like to come?”
Nisha and Rachel turned to each other.
“Sure.” they both said in unison.
Soon they were up in the air and within minutes they were setting down, 70 miles away at the new colony.
“Amazing,” Rachel said. “The first tower is growing quickly.”
“Yes, the construction should be finished tomorrow, and we can start to move in shortly thereafter.” Bok said. “We’re going to build another tower.”
“Why?” Nisha said.
“This tower will only house 100,000 of us. 100,000 already want to come with us.”
“That’s twice as many as yesterday,” Nisha said. “Are you going to be able to handle it?”
“Yes, we can handle it. We’re replicating more builder drones to keep up.”
“No Bok, I mean are you going to be able to handle the responsibilities and the problems of starting your own colony?” Nisha said.
“I understand your question now. I know I won’t be able to handle this all by myself. Beedee is going to help, and I’ll set up a government and a system of law. I created rules every member must agree to before they can join the colony. If they break the rules, they must go. That’s a start.”
Bok and Beedee went to work at the colony. Nisha and Rachel walked up to top of the hill to watch the progress unfold.
“I don’t think Bok knows what he’s getting himself into,” Nisha said.
“I don’t either. This is gathering momentum. I don’t know where it’s headed. I’m feeling anxious. At least the elders have a formula to keep them from self-destruction.”
“We’ll find out,” Nisha said. “I can watch the top of the tower grow in front of my eyes as the drones add more to the top.”
“Yeah, I notice that. They’re operating about 10 of those nuclear fusion reactors wired up to the power transmission line. I guess they’re going to be able to make a lot of money selling electricity to the grid. It’s pushing energy prices down.”
They watched for a while and walked back down the hill and into the construction area.
“It seems different, doesn’t it?” Rachel said. “They’re friendlier. We aren’t getting those looks we got at the big colony.”
“Yeah, I’m accepted here, if that makes any sense.”
Bok and Beedee walked over to talk to them.
“What do you think?” Beedee said.
“I’m impressed with the progress. Everyone is friendly,” Rachel said.
“We’re the interstellar generation. We want to keep an open mind to new things. I hope you don’t think of us as you do the elders. We’re different.”
“Yes, you seem different. Gen-I. I like that. I’m Gen-Z.” Nisha said.
They watched for a while longer. Bok dropped them back off at their tent.
“Amazing,” Nisha said as they walked into the tent. “They dropped us off like we might drop off our kids at school.”
“Yeah, a school that’s 70 miles away,” Rachel said. “They perceive distance and time differently from us.”
Yoova walked out of her tent.
“Yoova, I didn’t know you were here,” Nisha said. “How are you doing?”
“I’m happy. We’re going to be able to purchase the land in the redwood forest and build our colony. We’ve earned $3 million for a down payment and our future concerts will pay the rest of the price. Some humans wanted to cut down the trees, but now they can’t because we bought the land.”
“Congratulations Yoova!” Nisha said.
“Thanks. We’re excited. We also want to grow our native plants. We use them for food and enjoy them for their beauty. We’re eating the cultured food the Omanji replicators produce for us, but we prefer the natural food we ate back on Oma. However, we don’t want to introduce destructive species to the earth. Here are some specimens of our most useful plants. Can you find out whether we can grow them?”
“Sure.” Nisha said. “These are real plants from Oma?”
“Don’t worry about alien microbes,” Yoova said. “The Omanji are careful to not allow dangerous ones into Earth’s environment. The plants are clean. Every animal including the Omanji harbor microbes which were genetically modified, so they’ll die outside the body in Earth’s unfriendly atmosphere. The one exception is some microbes on these plants are in a symbiotic relationship with each other. They can’t survive without each other. They’ve been genetically modified to grow in Earth’s atmosphere. Okay, I must get to work now.”
Nisha and Rachel carried the plants into their tent to check them out. Millions of people were watching the broadcast live as they examined the 10 plants. They were each enclosed in a spherical clear, plastic-like case with a slight red tint to them.
“Notice how oddly colored the plants are when you take the tinted cover off,” Rachel said.
“Yeah, the leaf-like structures have splotches of red with a little purple all over them,” Nisha said as she put a leaf under a microscope. “The sunlight on Oma is a dim, soft red. The sun appears twice the diameter in the sky compared to our sun.”
“So why would a plant which needs red light be red in color?” Rachel said. “If it appears red to us, that means red is reflected and not absorbed. It’s a dark red but still.”
“Hmm,” Nisha said. “It’s the same red color as Halobacteria, which is the slimy red stuff in salt marshes. Halobacteria get energy from bacteriorhodopsin in a comparable way to how plants get their energy from chlorophyll.”
“But these specimens are plants,” Rachel said.
“Well, yes and no,” Nisha said as she looked through the microscope. “Halobacteria or something like them seem to be in these plants. They must get their energy from them. If my guess is right, plants on Oma get their energy from sunlight in differently than Earth’s plants, not by photosynthesis.”
“I’m looking up bacteriorhodopsin now,” Rachel said. “Do you realize it’s similar to the rhodopsin which senses light in our retinas?”
“I remember that from a biology class I had years ago,” Nisha said. “I wonder if these plants use rhodopsin too. If they do, they might be able to sense light as our eyes do. These are not plants as we know them. They’re a hybrid between plants and animals.”
“These plants are, well, not the most beautiful plants I’ve ever seen,” Rachel said. There’s only a little green in them and the purple and red splotches are so random it’s distracting.”
Nisha smiled.
“Rachel you’re being prejudiced. I have a feeling the green in our plants is not attractive to the eyes of the Omanji or the Yoots. Their eyes are large, which is good for seeing infrared light. To them, these Omanji plants might be beautiful.”
“Yeah, you’re right. These are only the plants they eat. The plants we eat are not the most beautiful plants on the earth. We grow tomato plants for the tomatoes, not as beautiful house plants or for their flowers.”
“Exactly.” Nisha said. “I’m doing a chemical analysis now. The leaf does contain something like bacteriorhodopsin and rhodopsin in it.
“Maybe the plant can sense light directly like a primitive animal on Earth,” Rachel said.
“Yeah, this might be true at least for infrared light. Hey, this gives me an idea. Let’s put the plants under the heat lamp over here. The lamp doesn’t give out much visible light, but the heat is from infrared light.”
They put the plants under the heat lamp.
“Hmm, nothing’s happening,” Rachel said.
They watched the plants silently for a couple of minutes.
“They’re moving,” Nisha said. “This one is turning away from the sunlight coming into the tent and pointing towards the heat lamp. Watch the plant move. Let me turn up the lamp to full intensity.”
They studied the plant for a few minutes.
“Now it’s turning away from the lamp.” Rachel said. “It’s afraid of energetic red light. Why would that be?”
“I think it’s a defense mechanism during solar flares. Red dwarf stars like Oma’s star sometimes flare up for minutes at a time and might fry tender plants. Maybe this is how the plant avoids getting sunburned. Our star doesn’t flare so our plants never had to evolve this property.”
“These are not plants as we know them,” Rachel said. “However, if you were to show me a picture, I’d say it’s a plant.”
“I’m going to measure these plants and leave them under the heat lamps at a moderate intensity and find out what happens,” Nisha said. “Let’s go eat dinner.”
After dinner they came back to the tent to check on the plants.
“It’s grown an eighth of an inch while we were eating.” Nisha said.
Rachel laughed.
“Are we sure we want to keep them in the tent overnight. Maybe they’ll eat us in our sleep. Did you ever watch the old movie, ‘Little Shop of Horrors?’”
“Yes, and I know what happened. I think I’ll leave my broadcast camera on and pointed towards the plants to be on the safe side. I’ll put my machete under my pillow.”
They smiled as they watched the plants with humorous suspicion.
They fell asleep but woke up several times during the night, to make sure the plants were behaving themselves. They did.